Speed change to be tried outside schools

Pressure from concerned parents and teachers will see variable speed limits trialled outside some rural schools from the end of next month.

Rural communities across the country have been campaigning for years to get authorities to lower the speed of traffic outside their schools amid concerns the openspeed limit that applies in many rural areas was putting young children at risk of serious injury or death.

Now the New Zealand Transport Agency has announced it will begin a trial of variable speed limits outside rural schools as part of its effort to reduce serious crashes and improve safety on rural New Zealand roads.

‘‘Our aim is to create a road sys- tem in which crashes are survivable,’’ NZTA chief adviser Lisa Rossiter said.

‘‘To do that we really need to reduce speeds around our vulnerable youngsters and we also need to accept that people, including children, will make mistakes on the road.

It’s up to all of us to share responsibility for making the system as safe as we can. Driving at lower speeds around schools when kids are coming and going is part of that.’’

Ms Rossiter said investigations had shown that for many rural schools the main traffic safety issue was the risk of crashes with vehicles turning into or out of the school grounds to drop-off or pickup children.